Federal agency investigating RFK Jr. after severed whale head story resurfaces

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association is investigating Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after a decades-old incident in which Kennedy allegedly drove the head of a dead whale across state lines resurfaced, an agency representative told ABC News.

Kate Silverstein, a spokeswoman for NOAA Fisheries, told ABC News Monday that the agency is investigating Kennedy, confirming what the former independent presidential candidate told a crowd in Arizona over the weekend.

“I got a letter from the National Marine Fisheries Institute saying they were investigating me for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago,” Kennedy said at the event, where he was campaigning for former President Donald Trump, whom he endorsed after suspending his own campaign.

In a 2012 Town and Country article, Kennedy’s daughter, Kick Kennedy, recounted an anecdote about how her father handled a dead whale that washed up on a Massachusetts beach.

Robert Kennedy used a chainsaw to cut off the whale’s head and strapped it to the roof of his minivan about three decades ago, Kick Kennedy said.

The story resurfaced last month and drew condemnation from at least one environmental group, which called on NOAA to investigate.

Silverstein did not respond to a question seeking confirmation that NOAA’s investigation was related to the incident described by Kick Kennedy.

She said the agency does not comment on ongoing investigations.